Friday, November 25, 2011

Because of the winter we have kept a blanket on the sofa in the living room as every morning when I have to go to school I feel cold and I eat my cereal in front of TV.

And that‘s not all…….

When we go out to play all of us will have our hands tucked into our armpits and our caps on. That is really a nuisance. But who could blame us? We almost expected smoke to come out of our mouth.

Anyway, on Wednesday we had a Biriyani party in our compound. Coming into my compound might be like coming into a world with all kinds of parties. That is why all my classmates are jealous and I am happy.When I told them about the water balloon fight we compound kids had all my classmates had sighed and said “Lucky you!”, I was on top of the world.

There was a fire pit in the middle of the chairs so we all kept our hands above it, but Afra, Ayesha’s younger sister who started school some months ago ran around it and we had to chase her away. Her bro Talha spat into it when he thought nobody was looking, my Dad had to chase him away. This proved that the fire pit was a place for mischief too.

The biriyani was tasty and while having it all of us watched a movie, Chance pe Dance at Alana’s house. We then went home after the movie.

I won the second prize for singing this year. I looked at it all day happily and even took it’s video because I don’t get certificates that many times.

Today I chatted with my cousin Savithri through the Internet. But when we chat sometimes we say almost nothing. We just write “How r u” or “ How is the family” or “Anything exciting or funny happened there” and then continue with a line of smiley faces and hearts.

The barbecuing was to start at 9:00pm, but me and my parents had to go out so when we arrived at 9:30, a few people were already crowded around the grill. Some of the ladies were sitting in the chairs and talking. Few uncles were handling the barbecue. There was a table loaded with Pepsi, 7up, salad and some chewing- gum. It was the first time I had ever seen chewing gum on these kinds of parties.

The chicken was yummy! There were also chicken pieces on stick, and some people ate 2 or 3 of them because they were really tasty.

Niharika did not touch the chicken. When we asked her she told us that she had stopped eating chicken, and I forgot the reason why. So she gave her chicken to her mother.

We played 2 games of UNO. In the first game I was the 2nd winner and in the second game the first winner. As Nichiket said, I was a kind of a genius in UNO. You could bet I was proud when he said that.

The kappa-and-kozhi curry party was just as nice. The chief chef was uncle Rajan and his assistant was uncle Loy. Both were funny while preparing the food. All the others watched.

But I am really sad today. The winter holidays are over and I have to go to school tomorrow. Even Nichiket who adored school is now groaning that he doesn’t want to go because of these exciting weeks.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

“Fine then” elders said, they were all sitting in a circle together. “Tomorrow we will all meet at 9:30 in the morning “

We did know what they were talking about.

All the people in the compound (except Talha and Ayesha) were going to visit the factory of Al Rashed Bakery. Uncle Rajan working there and he is a big manager. I heard they make bread products and I love bread so I was looking forward to go there.

I had a lovely dream that night too, that I was flying in the sky with my arms spread out. I guess that is because I always wanted to fly, just like Peter Pan.

“Dress fast!” Mom told me in the morning. I groaned. I was still too sleepy to dress. “Fine” Mom said “then stay at home” I muttered under my breath and changed because I wanted to see the factory.

Soon we all were ready to go to the factory. Nichiket and Niharika climbed into my car because uncle Sunil had to go to office.

It was a merry journey. Soon we reached the factory. We had to wear hair nets to prevent our hair from falling into the dough. But before we saw everything, there was a magnificent breakfast waiting for us. We really couldn’t wait to eat.

The factory was interesting. We also saw the making of ice-cream cones and tasted them too. The dough was kept in huge cart and looked soft.

But the machines were the main things I liked the most. The most interesting part was when the dough came near the machine it was chopped to several pieces. Then there was something which made them round as they rolled and then later sprinkled with flour. It was fast and really soft too and we played with a small piece of the round dough.

There are many rooms in the factory but the room we liked the most was the chiller room. It was minus 20 degrees and smoke came out of our mouths. Brrr!

Then we saw how tortillas were made and when the tortillas were kept in the chiller room it became like a rock. Because we banged on them too!

Later uncle Rajan gave us a gift packet. We peeped inside the cover, and found out bread and buns made by his factory! That’s what I have been having for breakfast for some days now!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

“Janu! Janu! Wake up!” I opened my eyes and stared at Mom groggily. “Get up” mom urged me. “Remember we have to go to the farm.”

Helped by my mother I got up and blinked until the room came into focus. I stared at my parent’s bed, Dad had already gotten up. I washed my face and sleepwalked into the living room. One hour later we were ready to go to the farm.

One of uncle Loy friends worked in farm and we were looking forward, especially me, to see all the cow, goat and sheep since I love animals. Most of my compound friends were coming too along with Melvin and his elder brother Milan.

As we went further we saw the hanging bridge of Riyadh and the beautiful view of mountains on both sides.

Later when we reached the fields which spread out like a green carpet, my eyes caught a strange figure in the middle. It was a scare-crow! It had an Arabic dress and a scarf as its head. We giggled and pointed silently. We got out of the car, stretched out our arms and took in the fresh, minty air.

We walked towards the path leading to the farmhouse, only that it did not look like a house. It had tree trunks for support and looked majestic.

After settling our things, me, Niharika, Alana and all the aunts went for a walk while the boys played cricket. Dad also accompanied us with his camera.

There were many trees of all kinds such as orange, lemon, guava etc. with fruits. As we moved further we saw the animals. There were sheep, goat, hen, duck and turkey. Goats kept bleating and hens kept going cock-doodle-doo. It was a complete mad house.

Everybody started getting into the cars. We were just going for a drive and few minutes later there was a beautiful desert on our left side! We stopped there and gazed at the huge sand dunes and then started climbing them. It was not easy.

We had lots of fun. When we reached the top we sat down and slid to the ground. We dug our fingers inside the sand, where it was cool. Our shoes were filled with sand our pockets felt a bit heavy due to the fine and smooth sand inside.

Friday, November 4, 2011

After playing we had gone home, Raja and Rohini came to each of our house and this is what they said “Meet at the ground in 10 minutes for the bursting of firecrackers.”

But we all started to dress at the speed of a race car and reached the ground in 3 minutes!

After checking everybody had arrived, Raja & Rohini’s dad announced that due to the death of Prince Sultan, noisy firecrackers wouldn’t be used. We just nodded our heads; we didn’t care about anything, but just wanted to start bursting crackers.

The firecrackers were superb. First, there was this type of cracker that sent sparks up like a fountain, then those types which we can hold in our hand. Another would spin and then fly into the air (which was totally cool) but then one of them instead of flying targeted forward and almost hit Raja who was in front. So that was the end of spinning-and-flying cracker. There was a long magic wand like cracker, the type which we have to hold. And from that sparks would keep shooting into the sky. (Wow!J)

After the firecrackers everybody headed for Rohini’s house. Outside their house there was a buffet waiting for us all. It looked grand and none of us could wait to eat. So we fidgeted.

When it was time to eat we all rushed out of the house got our plate and started loading them with all kinds of delicious food. And for desert we had ras malai.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

“Don’t burn your fingers and you are only 8.” “Don’t worry. Trust me, I can do it safely.” said young Talha.

“Sometimes we really can’t trust you Talha” said Nichiket. “Like remember when you promised us you wouldn’t scare Whitey the dove by going near it? But you still did it in front of our very eyes.” “Well this time I won’t do anything like that.” promised Talha.

It was Diwali and me, Talha, Ayesha, Niharika and Nichiket, my friends were lighting the diyas my dad had bought from the store. “Can I go next, Janaki?” asked Ayesha “You are more 2 years younger than Talha so better ask my mom.” I replied. She was the youngest and mostly asked me questions and stayed with me everyday when we played because I am the only one who makes her understand and protects her from teasing boys and other things.

“I hate to be the youngest” complained Ayesha. “Well, sometimes it is fun to be the youngest” I admitted.

“That diya’s fire has gone out” Niharika, the eldest among us pointed out. “I will light it” I said. I took it and its molten wax liquid went on my finger. “That’s hot” I said and wiped the wax on my pants. Then my mom went to off the light outside. Now with all the diyas shinning together it looked really pretty.

I moved a few steps back. “Ouch!” I had stepped on Nichiket’s foot. “Sorry” I apologized as Nichiket rubbed his foot.

”When will we go to Raja’s party?” Ayesha asked, it was the 100th time she was asking that question. Since Raja & Rohini arranged a Diwali party at their place we were all excited.